Death during deliberate propane inhalation.

Propane gas is used as a fuel and very rarely it is abused by young people in Greece. In this paper, we report a case of abuse of propane inhalation that resulted in accidental death. The determination of propane in autopsy samples was done by headspace gas chromatography and semiquantitation in liver, blood and the contents of the plastic bag through which the gas was diffused, which proved to be lethal.

Enhanced genotoxicity by melphalan and hyperthermia in chronic heroin addicts.

Spontaneous melphalan- (MEL-) and MEL-hyperthermia- (MEL-HYP-) induced sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequencies have been studied in 12 chronic heroin addicts (HER AD) and in 12 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The incidence of spontaneous SCEs in lymphocytes from the HER AD was significantly greater (P less than 0.001) than those from the control subjects.

Induction of sister-chromatid exchanges in heroin-cannabis, heroin and cannabis addicts.

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in heroin-cannabis, heroin and cannabis addicts. The group of 84 subjects consisted of 42 controls, 16 heroin-cannabis addicts, 12 heroin addicts and 14 cannabis addicts. The mean number of SCEs/cell was 12.